Leamington railway conductor sacked after his Facebook post about pubs reopening after lockdown was deemed to be 'racist and Islamophobic'

A senior railway conductor from Leamington says he is fighting his dismissal after a message he put on social media about the pubs reopening after lockdown was deemed by his bosses to be 'racist and Islamophobic'.

Jeremy Sleath was shocked when his employers at West Midlands Trains dismissed him after they were made aware of the message he published on his personal Facebook page.

The message, published on July 4 after the pubs re-opened after the first Lockdown, said: "Thank F+++, pubs open again, I don't want to live in some sort of alcohol-free muslim caliphate just to beat Covid-19. We must button up, face it, stiff upper lip it, if necessary herd immunity it, but we must learn to live with it and not let our fantastic culture and way of life be trashed."

Mr Sleath, who said he had an unblemished record with the company up to now, was called into a meeting in July. He was then suspended on full pay before the matter went to a disciplinary hearing.

Mr Sleath, who lives in Leamington, was dismissed on September 15 after the company said it deemed the comment as racist and Islamophoblic.

He appealed against the decison but was unsuccessful, so he is now taking the case to ACAS and an industrial employment tribunal.

"I enjoyed my job and I have never had any disciplinary action over the time I have worked here," he added.

"I've worked 17 years on the railways with just two days off sick, and am a Corbyn-supporting multiculturalist, pluralist, secularist atheist, and not remotely racist. No one at work thinks I am racist.

Mr Sleath said his message was misunderstood and that he was saying he didn't want to live in a lockdown society with no pubs, "like the so-called Islamic State" he added.

"The worst I was expecting was a warning but they suspended me and then sacked me," he added.

"The whole thing is crazy. Under freedom of speech I should be entitled to say what kind of society I want to live in and I can't see how people would be offended by that."

In response to the matter, a West Midlands Trains spokesperson said: “We are an inclusive employer and do not tolerate any form of discrimination.

"We require our staff to follow a strict code of conduct at all times and will take appropriate disciplinary action against those who fail to do so.”